Corpus Christi Blog

Forge Into the Breach with St. Joseph

12-29-2024Weekly ReflectionJen Arnold, M.A.

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Family. In the past, I have written about the Holy Family as our model of the Domestic Church, a reflection of the Holy Trinity, and an example for making our own family a school of virtue. However, this year, I would like to focus specifically on the role of men in our families using Bishop Emeritus Olmsted’s apostolic exhortation, Into the Breach, and the example of St. Joseph.

Bishop Olmsted wrote this document in 2015 and named it Into the Breach as a call to arms to Catholic men since our world, and, more specifically, our families, are under spiritual attack by Satan. Here are his opening words:

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Advent Reflections with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Part 4: Love

12-22-2024Weekly ReflectionJen Arnold, M.A.

We have reached the final week of Advent, and Christmas is right around the corner. I have directed this year's Advent reflections to the youth and journeyed through each week's themes using the example of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who St. Pope John Paul II called “A Man of the Beatitudes” and a patron of the youth. The theme for this final week is charity, which is another way of saying Christian love. For this reflection, we’ll examine how Blessed Frassati demonstrated Christian love in his friendships.

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Advent Reflections with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati — Part 3: Joy

12-15-2024Weekly ReflectionJen Arnold, M.A.

The third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday, which is Latin for “rejoice.” In contrast to the three purple candles, today we light the rose-colored candle on the Advent wreath as we focus on the joy we will experience with the coming of Jesus on Christmas. This week, we will look at how Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati exemplified the virtue of joy in his young life.

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Advent Reflections with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Part 2: Peace

12-08-2024Weekly ReflectionJen Arnold, M.A.

We’ve reached the second week as we continue our Advent reflections with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati for the youth. The theme for the second week of Advent is peace. When Pope John Paul II beatified Blessed Frassati on May 20, 1990, he called him the “Man of the Eight Beatitudes” because he lived his life according to Jesus’ roadmap to happiness in the Beatitudes (cf. Matt 5:1-12). In 1975, Pier Giorgio's sister, Luciana, wrote about her brother in a book called A Man of the Beatitudes: Pier Giorgio Frassati, in which she devoted a chapter to describing how her brother lived out each of the Beatitudes. Let's take a closer look at Luciana's perspective on her brother's living witness of the beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

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Advent Reflections with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Part 1: Hope

12-01-2024Weekly ReflectionJen Arnold, M.A.

For this Advent series, I will be reflecting on how Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati exemplified the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy, and love. I am going to do something different for this series. While these reflections will certainly apply to anyone, my goal is to speak directly to the young people. I am currently the mother of five teenage children, so it seems a fitting time for me personally to do this. Pope John Paul II named Blessed Frassati a patron for the youth, having died at the age of 24, and Pope Francis recently announced that Frassati’s canonization will take place during the Jubilee of the Youth in Rome next summer, so he certainly is a pertinent example. If you are a parent, grandparent, or catechist, or have any young people in your life, please consider sharing these Advent reflections with them.

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